With such eventful and exciting competition at these games it
seems a shame to end with big doping scandals just like in Lahti
2001. Hopefully most people will agree it it better to have the
scandal and the cheaters caught rather than have them get away with
it.

Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova from Russia joined Johann
Muhlegg in testing positive to Darbepoetin. All three were caught
from an out of competition test taken on Thursday. Although results
of B-tests are still to come, the IOC has moved quickly and stripped
Muhlegg and Lazutina of the gold medals from the 50km and 30km
respectively. However all reports also say that the three skiers will
likely get to retain their medals from earlier in the games, despite
pretty much certainty that they would have used the drug in
preparation for the olympics and benefitted from its effects in all
the events.

Darbepoetin, also known as NESP, is supposed to be used for
patients suffering from anaemia and is said to be up to 20 times more
effective than EPO. A relatively new product (released onto the
market last October), it was apparently widely thought that the NESP
was unable to be detected, but for once it seems the anti-doping
tests are keeping pace with the dopers.

What should still be a concern is that none of the guilty 3 (or
"So-Ho Trio" as coined on XC
Skiworld) were picked up in numerous post race tests conducted
throughout the games. Between them Muhlegg ,Lazutina and Danilova had
already won 6 medals, and so must have been tested at least this many
times, not to mention the pre-race haemoglobin tests. This
demonstrates that it is still possible to cheat and get away with it.

With Muhlegg still (incredibly) protesting innocence and the
Russian team seeking to take the matter to court, this scandal is far
from over. There are also stories coming in Swedish press regarding
targetting of speficic athletes for testing based on the results of
blood testing at World Cups earlier in the season. However, this Salt
Lake City Couch Special is over. Further reports on the post-olympic
happenings will resume in the
Summer News section. Though
english news reports on cross country skiing seem to have been more
available this time around than for previous Olympic Games, hopefully
these XC Files have provided Australian readers with a view of the
sport not available back home.

February 24 - Muhlegg
Positive for Blood-Doping!

Sunday 10am in Europe after Muhlegg wins the 50km in Salt Lake
City. Swedish text TV has just posted the following news (translated
from Swedish):

Ski-King Johann Muhlegg has tested positive for
"Darbepoetin", a derivative of blood doping substance EPO. This was
notified today by the Spanish sports departement, as reported by TT
(news service). EPO is used to increase the number of red blood cells
in the blood, which gives great endurance.

It is Muhlegg's A-test which has shown to be postive. If the
B-test confirms the result then Muhlegg losed his gold medal from the
50km. Muhlegg will be heard tonight by the IOC's medical committee.

Could there be any bigger news than this? Further comments from
Swedish coach Magnar Dalen:

"I thought during the 30km, this is not possible,
no-one can ski as fast as this, said Dalen to Dagens Nyheter (Swedish
newspaper). Dalen thought that the news was a big blow for cross
country skiing, but at the same time was relieved [?] that his
suspicions proved to be correct.

"The impossible [or inhuman?] showed itself to be in fact
impossible,' said the national team coach Magnar Dalen.

Presuming the B-test is also positive (and if it isn't that is
another kettle of fish), the next big question is how Muhlegg managed
to be clean on all his previous tests. We wait to see how this latest
drama in the world of cross country skiing unfolds...

XCskiworld reported
yesterday that Muhlegg was very close to being refused a start after
the pre-race haemoglobin test. Muhlegg apparently recorded a value
too high, but then retested within 5 minutes as under FIS/IOC rules
and produced a lower value.

February 21 - Russia,
Ukraine High Haemoglobin

Incredible news today before the start of the women's relay,
skiers from Russia and Ukraine were over the limit in the pre-race
haemoglobin tests, and these two countries were not allowed to start.
Lazutina from Russia and Terelia from Ukraine were the guilty
parties, though guilty is perhaps technically not the correct
terminology as no doping penalty is applied and the skiers are only
barred from starting for health reasons. On one hand there could be
some dispute (from the Russians and Ukrainians of course) regarding
the application of this limit at such a high altititude, but on the
other hand the blood tests can also with great certainty tell if
there had been any artificial involvement. The question is: Will we
get to know if these two skiers just had high haemoglobin, or if the
blood profile was incriminating as well?

Swedish commentators seemed in no doubt that the high Hb values
were caused by illegal methods, and were also quite critical on the
Russian team who have Baranova still living and training with them at
the olympics, despite Baranova being recently banned for two years
for EPO doping.

A special report also posted today from Australian junior skier
Nick Grimmer, who made the trip from Royal Gorge to Soldier Hollow to
see the men's relay and the sprint competions. Hopefully Nick is
picking up a few tips from watching the world's best. Here are
Nick's impressions of the men's relay
event...

February 15 - A Couple
of Shorts

It was announced today that Elofsson from Sweden has come down
sick, and will miss the relay in two days time. This severely hampers
Sweden's chances for a medal in that event. Norway will go in as
favourites, as they just about have for the last ten years at all
major championships, but Austria, Italy, and Russia all have strong
teams and anything can happen in a relay.

On Norwegian TV Gudmund Skjeldal, brother of Norwegian team member
Kristen, all but accused the Estonian team of doping at these Olympic
Games. He didn't point the finger at Muhlegg, who has been in
incredible form (and drawn the direct question from Swedish
reporters), but the former national team member (and winner of 1992
Kangaroo Hoppet) could not believe that the Estonians could be so far
ahead of Jevne and Estil without "extra" help.

February 7 - No
Australian Cross Country Skiers...

Today's quiz: When was the last Winter Olympics without an
Australian cross country skier? Back past the memory of current
Australian team members at least. Certainly this is a set-back for
the sport in Australia. The absence of Australian cross country
skiers in Salt Lake City seems to have come about from a combination
of raising the bar by the AOC; the continual retirement of our best
skiers in their mid to late twenties; and some bad luck for our World
Cup skiers this season. However. We have to accept the standards that
we have to aim for, take heart from the promising results this
season, and look to the future.

Recent reports on doping are disturbing, but considering the
scandals of Lahti and the number of irregular blood tests produced
from the voluntary tests there, perhaps the only surprising thing is
that people are finally being caught. One thing is for sure: there
will continue to be rumours and uncertainty until the authorities
decide that seriously cleaning up the sport is better in the long
term than just doing the minumum in an attempt to avoid the scandals.

So with that, hopefully folks back in Australia will have a chance
to see some of the Olympic cross country events on TV. If not, there
should be plenty of english language reports (start from the SLC and
XC Ski World links above), and we will try to post regular armchair
reports of the races on this site.